Concept leads action, participation promotes progress. Youth plays a leading role in disseminating environmental knowledge and promoting public participation. The 1000 EFYA programme aims to drive the public pay attentions to energy conservation and environmental protection by mobilizing the enthusiasm of young volunteers and by encouraging and supporting them to participate actively in environmental protection with practical actions. JIA Feng specifies how this programme with such a large scale could be operated:

In general we developed and follow the Training-Action-Awarding model. First we recruit 1000 students aged from 16 to 24 national widely. After receiving environment-related trainings provided by our professionals, these young people will be granted certificates signed by the Minister of Environmental Protection China. Then each ambassador will take action to train at least 1000 people relying on the spirit of "spreading from one to one thousand". It is expected that at least one million people will have received the training. All participants involved in this programme are encouraged to submit their proposals on energy saving that can be applied in families, offices, campus or companies, among which the programme office will nominate 100 to provide professional guidance and financial support for the implement of the 100 proposals. At the closing stage of the programme, 20 distinguished Ambassadors and 20 most practicable proposal initiators will be commended.

To Know about us Further

The 1000 EFYA programme receives strong support by the government, which to a large extend put forward the progress of the programme. In 2009, the programme was initiated by Ministry of Environmental Protection China, together with the other seven ministries including Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, etc. On June 5th 2009, the kick-off ceremony was held at Peking University, one of the top universities in China.

2009-2011 sees the success of the first phase of 1000 EFYA with actually 1122 ambassadors trained and more than one million people influenced. The Youth Ambassadors have gone deeply into schools, communities, enterprises, shopping malls and squares; using the knowledge they have learned, they have appealed to more people to pay attentions to the environment, and lead the whole society to actively practice green lifestyles.

During the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban (COP 17), at the Chinese Pavilion, five Youth Ambassadors showed to the world the determination of Chinese Youth combating climate change by acting a drama “We are in the Same Boat”.

2012 marks the start of the second phase of the 1000 EFYA programme. With a bigger platform, the newly trained 1140 ambassadors, who come from over 30 cities of China, are inspiring more volunteers in all walks of life to care about the environment. More innovative campaigns are expected to be planned. As noted by JIA Feng, “We are now planning a branch programme called Environment-Friendly Heroine Ambassadors, considering that women as a special social group play a vital role in energy saving and combating climate change.”